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The Legendary Troll Kingdom
Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican Party candidate win the 2024 presidential election.[2][3] It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of merit-based federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with those who will be more willing to enact the wishes of the next Republican president.[3] It asserts that the president has absolute power over the executive branch.[2][4] Critics of Project 2025 have characterized it as an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan to transform the United States into an autocracy.[5][6] Many legal experts have asserted it would undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers, the separation of church and state,[7][3] and civil liberties.[8]
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts said in July 2024 that "we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."[9] Paul Dans, the project's director, said in April 2023 that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state."[10][11]
Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the government, particularly economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes taking partisan control of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production.[7][12] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,[13] though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism.[14] Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other agencies, or terminated.[15][16] Funding for climate research would be cut while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be reformed along conservative principles.[17][18] The Project urges government to explicitly reject abortion as health care[19][20] and eliminate coverage of emergency contraception under the Affordable Care Act.[21] The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity.[6] It proposes criminalizing pornography,[22] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[22][23] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs,[3][23] as well as affirmative action.[24] Some conservatives and Republicans have criticized the plan for its stance on climate change[25] and foreign trade.[14] Other critics believe Project 2025 is rhetorical "window-dressing" for what would be four years of personal vengeance at any cost.[26] The project's authors also acknowledged that most of the proposals would require the Republican Party to control both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.[26] Other aspects of the plan have recently been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and would face court challenges, while others still are norm-breaking proposals that might survive court challenges.[27]
The Project recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.[28] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of those sentences.[29] Dans acknowledged it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many to join the government to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future president to "regain control" of the government.[3] Although the project cannot by law promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.[30][31] The Washington Post called the project "the most detailed articulation of what a second Trump term would look like."[32] While initially[when?] the Trump campaign said the project aligned well with their Agenda 47 proposals,[26] the Project has increasingly caused friction with the Trump campaign which has generally avoided specific policy proposals that can be used to criticize him.[32] In July 2024, Trump disavowed Project 2025.[33]
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts said in July 2024 that "we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."[9] Paul Dans, the project's director, said in April 2023 that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state."[10][11]
Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the government, particularly economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes taking partisan control of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production.[7][12] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,[13] though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism.[14] Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other agencies, or terminated.[15][16] Funding for climate research would be cut while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be reformed along conservative principles.[17][18] The Project urges government to explicitly reject abortion as health care[19][20] and eliminate coverage of emergency contraception under the Affordable Care Act.[21] The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity.[6] It proposes criminalizing pornography,[22] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[22][23] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs,[3][23] as well as affirmative action.[24] Some conservatives and Republicans have criticized the plan for its stance on climate change[25] and foreign trade.[14] Other critics believe Project 2025 is rhetorical "window-dressing" for what would be four years of personal vengeance at any cost.[26] The project's authors also acknowledged that most of the proposals would require the Republican Party to control both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.[26] Other aspects of the plan have recently been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and would face court challenges, while others still are norm-breaking proposals that might survive court challenges.[27]
The Project recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.[28] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of those sentences.[29] Dans acknowledged it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many to join the government to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future president to "regain control" of the government.[3] Although the project cannot by law promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.[30][31] The Washington Post called the project "the most detailed articulation of what a second Trump term would look like."[32] While initially[when?] the Trump campaign said the project aligned well with their Agenda 47 proposals,[26] the Project has increasingly caused friction with the Trump campaign which has generally avoided specific policy proposals that can be used to criticize him.[32] In July 2024, Trump disavowed Project 2025.[33]
